Department for Education

Teachers: Pay

Derek Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of energy costs on the ability of schools to fund teacher pay rises.

Nick Gibb: This Government is committed to providing a world class education system for all children. The Autumn Statement announced an additional investment of £2 billion in each of the 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years, above the totals announced at the Spending Review 2021. Total funding for both mainstream schools and high needs schools will total £58.8 billion in 2024/25. This is the highest ever level in real terms per pupil, as measured by the Institute for Fiscal Studies.Of the £2 billion of additional funding announced in the Autumn Statement, £400 million will be allocated to local authorities’ high needs budgets, with a new condition placed on local authorities to ensure that a fair share of that will be passed directly to special schools and alternative provision. The remaining funding will be allocated to schools through the new Mainstream Schools Additional Grant (MSAG) and through boosting the pupil premium funding rates, which are increasing by 5% in 2023/24 compared to last year.For mainstream schools, additional funding through the MSAG is worth an average 3.4%, or £192, per pupil in 2023/24. This is being provided on top of the allocations based on the national funding formula (NFF) announced in July 2022. An average primary school with 200 pupils will receive approximately £35,000 in additional funding through the new MSAG, and an average secondary school with 900 pupils will receive approximately £200,000. This will support schools to manage costs.In March 2023, the Department made an offer on pay, conditions and workload to the education unions, as set out here: https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2023/03/28/teacher-strikes-latest-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-teacher-pay-offer/.This offer set out that, taking account of the most up to date assumptions for both energy prices and support staff pay for 2023/24, the Department has calculated that a 4% teacher pay award should be affordable within existing funding. The Government’s judgement of the affordability of teacher pay increases is, as usual, based on national figures which equate to the position for an average school. This assessment considers the impact of national level changes in energy prices, inflation and support staff pay for an average school to assess the affordability of teachers pay increases for schools. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) assessed that the most recent teachers’ pay offer, if it had been accepted, would have meant school funding was still growing faster than costs.Following unions’ rejection of the Government’s offer in March 2023, the independent School Teachers’ Review Body has submitted its recommendations to the Government on teacher pay for 2023/24, as part of the normal process. The Department will be considering the recommendations and will publish its response in the usual way.The Government has announced that from April 2023, the Energy Bill Discount Scheme will mean eligible schools will receive a discount on high energy bills until 31 March 2024. This replaces the previous Energy Bill Relief Scheme which ran from October 2022 to 31 March 2023 and provided a price reduction, protecting schools from excessively high energy bills over the winter period.In addition to the support for schools’ day to day running costs, as set out above, the Department allocated £500 million of additional capital funding in 2022/23 for schools, sixth form colleges, and Further Education (FE) colleges to help improve energy efficiency. This comprised £447 million for schools and sixth form colleges and £53 million for FE colleges to spend on capital improvements to buildings and facilities, prioritising works to improve energy efficiency. The Department has also published guidance for schools and colleges on steps for reducing energy use and small scale works to improve energy efficiency which can be implemented relatively quickly.The Department recognises that every school’s circumstances are different, and where schools are in serious financial difficulty, they should contact their local authority or the Education and Skills Funding Agency.

Pupils: Absenteeism

Alberto Costa: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the rate of fines for parents and carers taking their children out of school during term times on encouraging school attendance.

Nick Gibb: Parents have a duty to ensure their child of compulsory school age, who is registered at school, attends regularly.The Department has not formally assessed the impact of penalty notices. Data shows that absence due to unauthorised holidays, for which 85% of penalty notices are issued, has remained stable between 2017/18 (85%) and 2021/22 (85%). Data for 2020/21 should not be used due to COVID-19 restrictions.The Department has consulted on a new framework to improve consistency and fairness in issuing penalty notices and to ensure they are used effectively as part of the suite of parental responsibility measures. The Department will be responding to this consultation in due course.

Teachers: Pay

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how school leaders can set budgets for the next school year without (a) the information on pay for leaders and teachers contained in the School Teachers’ Review Body report and (b) a response from Government on funding for the report’s recommendations on pay; and if she will make a statement.

Nick Gibb: The Department understands the timing of the national pay award announcement presents budgeting challenges for schools. The Department is continuing to work across Government to ensure announcements are made as early as possible. This year, the Department has allowed trusts more time to prepare their budgets by extending the deadline to 31 August 2023 for the Budget Forecast Return (BFR) that academies are required to provide, setting out their budget plans.Following unions’ rejection of the Government’s 4.5% offer in March 2023, the independent School Teachers’ Review Body has submitted its recommendations to government on teacher pay for the 2023/24 academic year, as part of the normal process. The Department will be considering the recommendations and will publish our response in the usual way.Funding for both mainstream schools and high needs, including the additional funding announced at the Autumn Statement, is £3.5 billion higher in the 2023/24 financial year, compared to 2022/23. This is the highest ever level per pupil, in real terms, as measured by the Institute for Fiscal Studies. The Department provides these increases to school revenue budgets so that schools can cover cost increases in the year ahead, including to teacher pay. As usual, schools should plan for how teacher pay awards could be managed within this existing funding.The Department’s position remains that a 4% teacher pay award should be affordable, nationally, from the funding increases already promised to schools, as set out in an Education Hub post published at the time, which can be found at: https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2023/03/28/teacher-strikes-latest-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-teacher-pay-offer/.It would be sensible for schools to consider the range of possible scenarios on pay that might materialise, and what the implications would be for their individual school.

Schools: Buildings

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when her Department plans to publish updated school Condition Data Collection.

Nick Gibb: The key, high level findings of the Condition Data Collection (CDC) programme were published in May 2021 in the ‘Condition of School Buildings Survey: Key Findings’ report. This is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/989912/Condition_of_School_Buildings_Survey_CDC1_-_key_findings_report.pdf.Individual CDC reports are shared with every school and the academy trust, Local Authority or voluntary aided body responsible for those schools, to help inform their investment plans, alongside their own more detailed condition surveys and safety checks. The Department has committed to publishing the school level CDC data before the summer recess.Well maintained, safe school buildings are a priority for the Department. The Department allocates significant funding to those responsible for the school estate to improve their buildings. This is over £15 billion since 2015, including £1.8 billion committed for the 2023/24 financial year. The School Rebuilding Programme will also transform buildings at 500 schools over the next decade, prioritising schools in poor condition. The Department has announced 400 schools to date, including 239 in December 2022.

Out-of-School Education

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an estimate of the number of children attending unregistered schools.

Nick Gibb: The Department has not made any estimate of the number of pupils in unregistered schools. Those responsible for conducting unregistered schools do not generally inform the Department about the school’s operation. It is therefore not possible to accurately estimate the number of children attending unregistered schools.Unregistered schools are those that are operating as an independent school without having registered with the Department. It is a criminal offence under Section 96 of the Education and Skills 2008 Act for any person to operate an unregistered independent school. The Department and Ofsted continue to investigate any setting where intelligence or evidence suggests the operation of an unregistered school. Section 97 of the Education and Skills Act 2008 permits no notice inspections of settings believed to be operating in breach of the registration requirement.Between 1 January 2016 and 31 March 2023, 726 inspections of suspected unregistered independent schools took place. Of those, 146 settings were issued with a warning notice and 129 settings closed or ceased operating illegally. Since 2016, six successful prosecutions have been brought against those responsible for conducting unregistered schools.

Schools: Finance

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help schools plan their budgets for the 2023-2024 academic year.

Nick Gibb: The Government is committed to providing a world class education system for all pupils and has provided significant funding in education to achieve that. The Autumn Statement 2022 announced additional funding of £2 billion in each of the 2023/24 and 2024/25 financial years, over and above totals announced at the Spending Review 2021.This means funding for mainstream schools and high needs is £3.5 billion higher in the 2023/24 financial year, compared to 2022/23 financial year. That is on top of the £4 billion, year on year increase provided in the 2022/23 financial year. This is an increase of £7.5 billion, or over 15%, in just two years.Funding for both mainstream schools and high needs will total £58.8 billion in 2024/25. This is the highest ever level per pupil, in real terms as measured by the Institute for Fiscal Studies. The Government provides these increases to school revenue budgets so that schools can cover cost increases in the year ahead.Funding for mainstream schools and high needs for 2023/24 is allocated through the schools and high needs National Funding Formulae (NFFs), published in July 2022. This determines the amount of funding each Local Authority receives for the schools in their area, and final school allocations are then determined by each Local Authority’s own local funding formula.All schools should have been notified of their funding allocations for 2023/24. Academies will receive their funding allocations on an academic year basis from the Education and Skills Funding Agency, and maintained schools receive their funding on a financial year basis from their Local Authorities.In addition to funding through the NFF, in 2023/24 mainstream schools also receive funding through the Mainstream Schools Additional Grant (MSAG). The Department has now published school level allocations of the MSAG funding, so that all eligible schools can see their additional funding through this grant. Pupil Premium allocations for the 2023/24 financial year have also been published.The Department understands that one of the key concerns of schools regarding budget planning in the 2023/24 academic year is teachers’ pay.Following unions’ rejection of the Government’s 4.5% offer in March, the independent School Teachers’ Review Body has submitted its recommendations to the Government on teacher pay for the 2023/24 academic year, as part of the normal process. The Department will be considering the recommendations and continues to work across government to ensure that announcements can be made as early as possible. This year, for example, to allow trusts more time to prepare their budgets, the Department has extended the deadline for the Budget Forecast Return that academies are required to provide, setting out their budget plans, to 31 August 2023.It is recommended that schools consider the range of possible scenarios on the different cost factors, including on support staff pay and energy, that might materialise, and what the implications would be for their individual school.Guidance to help schools complete forecasts can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/academies-budget-forecast-return-guide-to-using-the-online-form/academies-budget-forecast-guidance-for-completing-the-online-form. The Department’s School Resource Management offer also includes advice to help with forecasting, including estates management advice, buying guides and how to join or create your own school professionals network.

School Teachers' Review Body

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to publish the School Teachers’ Review Body report.

Nick Gibb: As part of the normal pay round process, the independent School Teachers’ Review Body has submitted its report and recommendations on teacher pay for 2023/24 to the Government. The Department is considering the recommendations and will publish its response and the report in due course.

Relationships and Sex Education

Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the relationships and sex education curriculum; and whether she plans to review that curriculum.

Nick Gibb: The Department has plans in place to monitor the national implementation of Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) over time, including measuring teacher confidence in teaching the statutory requirements. The Department has contracted with the International Institute of Field Research to undertake quantitative and qualitative research, which will seek to understand the quality of implementation, including teacher confidence in teaching the statutory requirements.The research will aim to test whether schools are implementing the requirements with sufficient quality. It will also inform any further support offers, and test and revise the theory of change for how setting this requirement will improve pupil’s outcomes. Interim findings will support the review of the RSHE statutory guidance, and the Department expects to publish the final report in 2024.The Department has brought forward the review of the RSHE statutory guidance, including an independent expert advisory panel, which will advise the Secretary of State on the introduction of age limits for certain subjects. Further details are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/terms-of-reference-for-review-panel-on-rshe.The work of the expert panel will inform the public consultation which will be published in the autumn, prior to publishing revised guidance in 2024.

Teachers: Pay

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to meet with the National Education Union on teachers pay.

Nick Gibb: The Government and the teacher and head teacher unions, the National Education Union (NEU), the Association of School and College Leaders, the National Association of Head Teachers, and the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers, took part in a period of intensive talks between 17 March and 23 March 2023. Following the talks, an in-principle offer was made by the Government on pay and non-pay related measures. The trade unions rejected this offer, and teacher pay for the 2023/24 academic year is now being determined through the independent pay review process. In line with this process, the School Teachers’ Review Body has submitted its recommendations to the Government and we are considering the recommendations and will publish our response in due course. The NEU announced further strikes on 5 and 7 July 2023. These strikes will only cause further disruption for pupils and parents.

Department for Education: Directors

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the cost to the public purse was of appointment of Regional Department for Education Directors.

Nick Gibb: Regional Directors (RDs) are Senior Civil Servants who act on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education and are held to account by the Director General for Regions Group. They work locally across children’s social care, special educational needs and disabilities, schools and area based programmes to improve outcomes for children, families and pupils.Recruitment to RD posts is managed by the Department’s existing internal recruitment teams. There is no additional cost to the public purse from their appointments. The salaries of RDs can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/disclosure-of-scs-posts-and-salary-information.

Postage Stamps: Education

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her Department's policy is on the study of philately in schools.

Nick Gibb: The Department holds no policy for the study of philately. The National Curriculum focuses on the key knowledge that should be taught. Within a broad statutory framework, set out in subject specific programmes of study, schools have considerable flexibility to organise the content and delivery of the curriculum to meet the needs of the majority of their pupils and to take account of new developments, societal changes, or topical issues.Maintained schools in England are legally required to follow the National Curriculum as a piece of statutory guidance.The National Curriculum is just one element in the education of every pupil. There is time and space to go beyond the National Curriculum specifications. In addition to meeting their statutory duties, schools are also free to include other subjects or topics they deem relevant for their pupils, as part of the school’s wider curriculum. Therefore, there is room for schools to incorporate the study of philately into their curriculum, should they wish.Academies and free schools have greater freedom and autonomy in how they operate for areas such as the curriculum, but they are expected to teach a curriculum that is comparable in breadth and ambition to the National Curriculum.

Special Educational Needs

Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether it is her policy that (a) education investment areas and (b) priority education investment areas should employ a special educational needs co-ordinator by 2024.

Claire Coutinho: Education Investment Areas (EIAs), including the subset of them that are Priority Education Investment Areas, are places where the department is prioritising a package of activity to raise standards. EIAs are not public bodies and do not employ any staff. Local authorities in these areas are required to publish and maintain a clear, accessible local offer of services to support children and young people with special educational needs (SEN) and disabilities and to support their families. A SEN coordinator (SENCO) is responsible for the day-to-day operation of a school's SEN policy.

Pre-school Education: Finance

Steve Brine: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information the Government holds on whether any underspends in childcare funding in local councils have been ringfenced for early years education as of June 2023.

Claire Coutinho: Early years funding is one of the funding blocks of the dedicated schools grant (DSG). Whilst the department does collect information around the total level of DSG underspend from local authorities, specific information regarding which funding blocks within the DSG the underspends have originated from is not collected.

What Works Centre for Wellbeing: Finance

John Penrose: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has for future education-related funding for the What Works Centre for Wellbeing.

Claire Coutinho: The What Works Centre for Wellbeing has a broad remit with their work advising on the activities of business, charities, and the public sector on areas such as health, work, sport, and education.The department does not currently fund the Centre.

Sign Language: Education

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing free British Sign Language classes to the families of all deaf children.

Claire Coutinho: Funding is available through the adult education budget (AEB) for qualifications in or focussing on British Sign Language (BSL), up to and including level 2. About 60% of the AEB has been devolved to mayoral combined authorities and the Greater London Authority, who determine which provision to fund for learners who live in their areas. The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) provides the remaining funding for learners who live in non-devolved areas.ESFA-funded AEB qualifications include, for example, the Level 1 Award in BSL which allows learners to communicate in BSL on a range of topics that involve simple, everyday language use. It will depend on an individual’s circumstances as to whether they are entitled to free provision or expected to meet part of the cost, through co-funding. Where community learning providers offer BSL courses, those providers are responsible for determining the course fees.On 15 June 2023, the department launched a public consultation on the proposed subject content for a new GCSE in BSL. The department’s aim is for first teaching of the GCSE to take place from September 2025. Our aim is that by introducing this new GCSE, more schools and colleges will choose to teach BSL which will, in turn, increase the number of BSL users and advance equality of opportunity.

Children: Counselling

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether funding is available for the employment of child counsellors in secondary schools.

Claire Coutinho: School-based counsellors can play an important role in supporting pupil mental wellbeing, alongside wider pastoral support.Schools are best placed to decide what pastoral support to offer to meet pupil need and they have the flexibility to use a number of funding streams to provide this support, which can include counselling. Funding streams include core schools funding, which is set to increase to the highest ever level in real terms per pupil in the 2024/25 financial year, following the additional investment of £2 billion in each of the 2023/24 and 2024/25 financial years, as announced in the Autumn Statement 2022.Schools can also use pupil premium and recovery premium funding to support pupil wellbeing, including through employing counsellors, in line with an evidence-based menu of approaches. Pupil premium rates have increased by 5% for 2023/24, to a total of £2.9 billion, and recovery premium will provide a further £1 billion of funding across the 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years, following over £300 million delivered in 2022/23.To support the provision of counselling in schools, in addition to increasing the funding available, the department has published a blueprint for school counselling services, which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/counselling-in-schools. This provides schools with practical, evidence-based advice on how to deliver high quality school-based counselling.

Video Games: Apprentices

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate her Department has made of the number of people who have (a) started and (b) completed an apprenticeship related to video games on 28 June 2023.

Robert Halfon: There are several apprenticeship programmes that are related to video games. These will include areas such as animation, programming and digital. Statistics on starts and achievements for individual apprenticeship standards can be found in the Apprenticeships and traineeships statistics publication, which can be accessed here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships-and-traineeships.

Universities: Assessments

James Wild: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate she has made of the number of university students whose exam and dissertation grades will be delayed.

James Wild: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions she has had with university vice-chancellors on delays in marking exams and dissertations.

Robert Halfon: The department understands that the vast majority of students will remain unaffected by the industrial action and, in most cases, will receive their full results on time, and progress and/or graduate as normal. On 23 June 2023, the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) published research findings which surveyed 49% of higher education (HE) institutions in the New Joint Negotiating Committee for Higher Education Staff. These institutions provided updated feedback on the impact of the marking and assessment boycott on students at their institutions:Over 70% of HE institutions said that ‘less than 2% of students’ will be unable to graduate (on time) this summer, due to the boycott.A further 20% were ‘unsure’ of the number.4% of HE institutions said ‘between 2% and 9% of students’ would be impacted.A link to these research findings can be found here: https://www.ucea.ac.uk/news-releases/23june23/.HE institutions are working on minimising the disruption to their students in a variety of ways, including reallocating marking to other staff members and hiring external markers. Moreover, many HE institutions can award degrees when they have enough evidence of a student’s prior attainment to do so. Others will be able to assign provisional grades to students to allow them to progress.On 12 June 2023, the Office for Students (OfS), the independent regulator of HE in England, wrote to institutions affected by the boycott to reiterate its expectations in relation to its conditions of registration. The OfS will continue to monitor this ongoing situation through their normal regulatory mechanisms and have published guidance for students affected by industrial action.On 22 June 2023, I met with Universities UK (UUK), the Russell Group and UCEA to better understand the impact that this boycott will have on students and the mitigating actions their members are taking to protect students’ interests.I have also written to the Russell Group and UUK, encouraging them to continue to do everything within their powers to protect the interests of students during this phase of industrial action. On 27 June 2023, I met with a number of HE representative groups to discuss the marking and assessment boycott, including the mitigating actions HE institutions are taking to protect their students’ interests.The government believes students should be at the heart of the higher education system. This is why we set up the OfS to regulate the HE sector in England, protect student rights and ensure the sector is delivering real value for money. The OfS has published guidance to students on their rights during industrial action, which is available at: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/for-students/student-rights-and-welfare/student-guide-to-industrial-action/.Students who have complaints about their HE experience should contact their provider in the first instance. Students in England and Wales may also raise a complaint with the Office of the Independent Adjudicator, which was set up to provide an alternative to the courts and is free of charge to students. Further information can be found here: https://www.oiahe.org.uk/.My officials and I will continue to engage with the HE sector over the coming weeks to help better understand the boycott’s impact on students and the mitigating actions HE institutions are taking to protect their students’ interests

Alternative Education and Special Educational Needs

Mrs Pauline Latham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to implement guidance to Regional Expert Partnerships on how many local partners they need to engage with when refining proposals in the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plans published in March 2023.

Mrs Pauline Latham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to publish (a) the feedback from the Regional Expert Partnerships to her Department and (b) discussions on how the proposals within the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plans published in March 2023 are to be refined.

Mrs Pauline Latham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 25 April 2023 to Question 180364 on Alternative Education and Special Educational Needs, what objective criteria is to be used when selecting local authorities using published SEND performance data.

Claire Coutinho: The department will be sharing strategic guidance with all Regional Expert Partnerships (REPs) for delivery of the Change Programme, which will include setting out the local partners they must engage with. Engagement with all partners across all local areas involved in the REPs, including schools, health partners and families, is integral to successfully delivering, testing and refining the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) reforms set out in the Improvement Plan.Throughout the lifetime of the programme, there will be a constant feedback loop between the department and the REPs in order to monitor the findings and share learning and best practice. This will include the REPs feeding back on the progress of delivering the reforms and any barriers they may be facing. The department will be transparent throughout this process and is currently establishing how it will provide public updates as the programme progresses.The department previously shared that all REPs would be led by a lead local authority, selected through objective criteria based on published SEND performance data. The department used this data to identify a shortlist of local authorities in each Department for Education region, who were subsequently invited to submit an expression of interest to be considered for the role. To be eligible for the shortlist, prospective lead local authorities must not:Have a live written statement of action from the previous Ofsted/ Care Quality Commission (CQC) Area SEND inspection framework.Have an 'inconsistent’ or ‘widespread/systemic failure’ outcome from the new Ofsted/CQC Area SEND inspection framework.Have a Section 114 notice.Be on our Safety Valve programme. They must also be in the top 75% of authorities nationally against:Rates of Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan assessment requests.Rates of EHC plan assessments completed in 20 weeks.Special Educational Needs exclusions.The department then ranked the remaining authorities based on their Designated School Grant surplus/deficit and shortlisted the top three local authorities in each region.

Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to bring the provisions of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 into force.

Claire Coutinho: The department is working closely with the Office for Students (OfS) to determine when provisions of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 will come into force.The timeline will involve working in collaboration with the OfS on the creation of new registration conditions and a complaints scheme dedicated to handling freedom of speech complaints, which will be operated by the OfS. The OfS will also develop guidance on how to comply with these duties, in consultation with providers, constituent institutions and students’ unions.

Cabinet Office

Cabinet Office: Disability

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer 23 June 2023 to Question 189783 on Cabinet: Disability, if he will provide further information on the status of commitments that have been (a) paused, (b) partially implemented and (c) not implemented.

Alex Burghart: In my previous answer on 23 June 2023 to Question 189783, I indicated which of the 19 Cabinet Office commitments set out in Part 3 of the National Disability Strategy were paused, partially implemented or not implemented.We are fully committed to supporting disabled people in the UK through creating more opportunities, protecting their rights and ensuring they fully benefit from, and can contribute to, every aspect of our society. To support this we will be providing details of the Government’s recent achievements to improve disabled people’s lives in the forthcoming Disability Action Plan consultation due for publication in the summer.Ahead of this the Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work has placed a list of these achievements in the House Library.

Import Controls: Supply Chains

Jim McMahon: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department's guidance entitled The Border Target Operating Model: Draft for Feedback, published on 5 April 2023, what steps his Department plans to  take to implement the proposed changes without disrupting supply chains.

Alex Burghart: Following publication of the draft Border Target Operating Model, we have worked closely with businesses to develop our plans.The new Border Target Operating Model sets out a new global regime of border controls that makes better use of technology and data to reduce friction and costs for businesses and consumers, while also protecting public, plant and animal health. It will create a radically simpler yet secure experience for businesses moving goods across the UK border. Businesses have indicated that they will need time to prepare for these changes, and the phased approach outlined in the draft Border Target Operating Model was designed with this in mind.We are working to ensure that businesses throughout the supply chain are aware of and understand the new requirements. As we have done with all major border changes, we will take a pragmatic approach as controls are introduced, working with businesses to monitor trade flows and support them to be compliant.

Infected Blood Inquiry: Public Appointments

Dame Caroline Dinenage: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to recommendation 14 of the Infected Blood Inquiry's Second Interim Report on compensation, published on 5 April 2023, when he plans to appoint a chair to an Arms Length Body to administer the compensation scheme to eligible applicants.

Jeremy Quin: As set out in the debate held on Thursday 22nd June, the setting up of an arms-length body is under consideration by the Government. The complexities and implications of any delivery mechanism must be fully understood ahead of committing to a timetable for appointments.

Emergencies: Mobile Phones

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the cost to the public purse was of the Emergency alert test on 23 April 2023; and whether a value-for-money analysis was carried out.

Jeremy Quin: The Government’s number one job is to keep people safe. Emergency Alerts are a critical new tool in the Government’s toolkit for warning and informing people where their lives are at risk.The total cost to date of developing the technical architecture and systems that underpin the emergency alert system, in addition to the first three years of operational delivery, will be a maximum of £25.3 million.All the contracts were established using the civil service public procurement policy. The tender process was therefore subject to a legal framework which encountered free and open competition and value for money, in line with internationally and nationally agreed obligations and regulations.The capability is currently within a trial period, which will review its use in the live and exercise environment. Any assessments of value for money will be carried out on completion of this.

Blood: Contamination

Dame Caroline Dinenage: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing compensation to infected blood victims before the publication of the full report of the Inquiry.

Jeremy Quin: The Government has accepted there is a moral case for compensation in respect of infected blood and has made interim compensation payments to recognise the urgent need of those registered on the existing support schemes. The Infected Blood Inquiry’s second interim report provides detailed recommendations on the framework for compensation which the Government is carefully considering.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

China: Religious Freedom

Carla Lockhart: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his counterparts in China on (a) the persecution of Christians and (b) other religious persecution.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The environment for Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) across China is restrictive, including the persecution of Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Falun Gong practitioners.We work within international organisations and networks to promote and protect freedom of religion or belief for all where it is threatened, including the UN, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Council of Europe, and the International Religious Freedom or Belief Alliance. For example, in October 2022 we raised China's severe restrictions on religious practice in a joint statement at the UN Human Rights Council (HCR) alongside 49 other countries. At last month's UN HRC we made a statement urging China to reverse its ongoing, serious, and systematic human rights violations in Xinjiang and Tibet.More generally, we regularly raise the human rights situation in China directly with the Chinese authorities at the highest levels. The Foreign Secretary did so in a meeting with the Chinese Vice President in May 2023.

Myanmar

Ms Anum Qaisar: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many permanent staff in his Department work on policies relating to Myanmar.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: Approximately 120 - 150 permanent members of staff at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, based in the UK and at the British Embassy in Yangon, work on policies relating to, or support our embassy in Myanmar.

Myanmar: Humanitarian Aid

Ms Anum Qaisar: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what humanitarian assistance his Department has provided to Myanmar in each financial year since 2021-22.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: Since the coup in February 2021, the UK has provided approximately £120 million to support the people of Myanmar. This has included life-saving assistance responding to the conflict and displacement, support for emergency health care and education and supporting civil society. We also recently announced an additional £2 million to support the Cyclone Mocha response.Breakdown of ODA figures:From 01 Feb 2021 to 31 Mar 2022: we provided £8 millionIn financial year 2021/22: we provided £49.5 millionIn financial year 2022/23: we provided £57.3 millionIn financial year 2023/24: our allocated budget is £30.1 million (we have spent £5.13 million so far).

Myanmar: Sanctions

Ms Anum Qaisar: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of (a) aviation fuel, (b) armaments and (c) financial services sanctions on Myanmar.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: We have led international efforts to put pressure on the military regime and reduce its access to revenue, arms and equipment. On 27 March, the UK announced its fifteenth round of sanctions, designating those who profit from the supply of aviation fuel and military equipment to the Myanmar Armed Forces. We will continue to impose a cost on the military regime's actions, working closely with our partners in the US, Canada and the EU to ensure a strong, coordinated and targeted response.

Bahrain: Gulf Strategy Fund

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to his Department's transparency data entitled FCDO Gulf Strategy Fund (GSF) summary 2022 to 2023, published on 30 March 2023, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of his projects in Bahrain covering (a) capacity building for civil society organisations and (b) research skills and training for journalists.

David Rutley: The FCDO remains committed to supporting reform in Bahrain, including through projects delivered via the Gulf Strategy Fund, itself subject to robust oversight measures and rigorous risk assessments to ensure projects are effective, consistent with our values and in line with our human rights obligations. We work closely with implementing partners to ensure that projects deliver results and value for money, including in the case of the two projects in question which provided training for a) 38 members of civil societies; and b) 26 members of the Bahrain Journalist Association, both of which received positive feedback from beneficiaries.

UK Internal Trade: Northern Ireland

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many times goods were returned to Great Britain from Northern Ireland ports because of failure to comply with requirements under the Northern Ireland Protocol between 1 January 2021 and 31 December 2021.

Leo Docherty: No goods were returned once they had entered Northern Ireland for customs purposes.

Conversion Therapy: Sanctions

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had discussions with Cabinet colleagues on the potential merits of including a ban on UK businesses selling conversion practices abroad in legislation on conversion practices.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The UK Government is proud to champion LGBT+ rights around the world. The Government will be publishing a draft Bill setting out our approach to banning conversation practices. The Government will publish draft legislation which will go through pre-legislative scrutiny by a joint committee in this parliamentary session. We are committed to protecting those at risk of these abhorrent practices.

Marine Environment: Conservation

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether the Government will support the agenda item proposed by France, Chile, Palau and Vanuatu entitled Establishment of a general policy by the Assembly related to the conservation of the marine environment, including in consideration of the effects of the two-year rule at the Assembly meeting of the 28th Session of the International Seabed Authority.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The UK have noted the late proposal of the agenda item from France, Chile, Palau, and Vanuatu at the Assembly meeting of the 28th Session of the International Seabed Authority and are currently considering the UK position. The UK has committed not to sponsor or support the issuing of any exploitation licences for deep-sea mining projects unless and until there is sufficient scientific evidence about the potential impact on deep-sea ecosystems and strong and enforceable environmental regulations and standards have been developed by the International Seabed Authority and are in place. The UK's approach is precautionary and conditional.

Kenya: Human Rights

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the adherence to international human rights standards at Kenyan fruit farms that have links to businesses in the UK.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: We are aware of the allegations made against the American multinational, Del Monte. The UK Government is clear that it expects all UK businesses to respect human rights throughout their operations, including their supply chain, in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). The UK was the first State to produce a National Action Plan (NAP). As outlined in our NAP, the UK has a range of judicial and state-based non-judicial mechanisms that help to support access to remedy for human rights abuses by business enterprises both in the UK and overseas.

Gabon: Visits Abroad

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he plans to visit the Gabonese Republic.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: There are currently no plans for the Secretary of State of Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs to visit to the Gabonese Republic. This year, our engagements have included one Ministerial visit in February 2023 to attend the One Forest Summit, and a visit by senior UK officials in June 2023. We look forward to building on these engagements when ministerial availability allows.

Deep Sea Mining

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make it his policy to support an international ban on deep-sea mining.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The UK recognises the growing pressure to extract deep-sea resources, and is actively monitoring the potential impacts of mining activities on the fragile marine environment. The UK's policy is not to sponsor or support the issuing of any exploitation licences for deep sea mining projects unless and until there is sufficient scientific evidence about the potential impact on deep sea ecosystems, and strong enforceable environmental Regulations, Standards and Guidelines have been developed by the International Seabed Authority (ISA) and are in place. The UK's approach is both precautionary and conditional.

British International Investment: Human Rights

Wendy Chamberlain: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to Oxfam's report entitled Sick Development, published on 26 June 2023, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of reports of human rights abuses by British International Investment-funded private healthcare providers.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: British International Investment (BII) and the FCDO have reviewed the report. BII has strong policies in place through its Policy on Responsible Investing, which draws on the standards set out in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Legally binding action plans are agreed to improve standards of investees over a defined period; and investees are risk assessed on a quarterly basis. Alongside this, BII has an established confidential complaints mechanism [https://www.bii.co.uk/en/complaints-whistleblowing/]. BII investigates any complaints and take steps to address any failures in meeting desired standards.Since the reported investments were made, BII has refocused its health investments into private hospitals and will only invest in hospitals that support a significant proportion of users who are on government payment schemes or on low incomes.

Home Office

Au Pairs

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to take steps to allow more au pairs to work in the UK.

Robert Jenrick: As has been the case since 2008, successive governments have decided the UK’s immigration system will not offer a dedicated visa route for au pairs. There are other immigration routes which grant general work rights in the UK and can be used by those who may wish to take up au pair roles.

Asylum: Leith

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has held recent discussions with (a) City of Edinburgh Council, (b) the Scottish Government, (c) Forth Ports Ltd and (d) any other stakeholders on proposals to accommodate asylum seekers on the MS Victoria cruise ship in Leith.

Robert Jenrick: The Home Office met with representatives of Scottish government and Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) on several occasions in May to discuss the possibility of placing a vessel in Leith to accommodate asylum seekers.In addition, the Home Office established a Multi-Agency Forum (MAF), involving the Council, Health, Police and other public agencies, as a structured forum for discussion with statutory bodies and key stakeholders.The City of Edinburgh Council opposed the use of this site.

Asylum: Staff

Angela Crawley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent estimate she has made of the number of asylum decision-makers her Department will have hired by (a) summer 2023 and (b) September 2023.

Angela Crawley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of the asylum decision makers hired in May 2023 have been fully-trained to process asylum claims to completion.

Robert Jenrick: We are increasing the productivity of caseworkers by streamlining, digitalising, and simplifying our process. We have already doubled our decision makers over the last 2 years, and we are continuing to recruit more. This will take the headcount of our expected number of decision makers to 2,500 by September 2023. Provisional data indicates that, as of 01 May 2023, there are 1,280 full time equivalent (FTE) Asylum Decision Makers. This information is published online in the IMB_06 tab of the Statistics relating to the Illegal Migration Bill - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). IMB_06 is not broken down in terms of how many decision makers are allocated to each Decision-Making Unit nor how many have been trained to work independently. The latest Home Office statistics show asylum decisions are up in the year ending March 2023, with a 35% increase in asylum decisions from the previous year.

Asylum: Military Bases

Sir Edward Leigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the potential cost per person per day of housing asylum seekers on former military bases.

Robert Jenrick: Cost information is prospective and commercially sensitive, and as such is not available to be released.

Asylum: Stoke on Trent

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum caseworkers have been recruited to work at the Asylum Casework Hub in Stoke-on-Trent.

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of caseworkers employed at the Asylum Casework Hub in Stoke-on-Trent (a) are and (b) are not making decisions on asylum claims independently.

Robert Jenrick: We are increasing the productivity of caseworkers by streamlining, digitalising, and simplifying our process. We have already doubled our decision makers over the last 2 years, and we are continuing to recruit more. This will take the headcount of our expected number of decision makers to 2,500 by September 2023. Provisional data indicates that, as of 01 May 2023, there are 1,280 full time equivalent (FTE) Asylum Decision Makers. This information is published online in the IMB_06 tab of the Statistics relating to the Illegal Migration Bill - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). IMB_06 is not broken down in terms of how many decision makers are allocated to each Decision-Making Unit nor how many have been trained to work independently. The latest Home Office statistics show asylum decisions are up in the year ending March 2023, with a 35% increase in asylum decisions from the previous year.

Department of Health and Social Care

NHS: Training

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan will require the creation of the new training course for NHS staff.

Will Quince: The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, published on 30 June 2023, sets out the steps the NHS and its partners need to take to deliver an NHS workforce that meets the changing needs of the population over the next 15 years. It will put the workforce on a sustainable footing for the long term.The Plan sets out significant expansion of domestic education, training and recruitment. This will include more doctors and nurses alongside an expansion in a range of other professions, including more staff working in new roles.Training will need to be reformed to support the education expansion set out in the Plan and ensure that we train the healthcare professionals of the future. Actions include improving productivity by working and training in different ways, building broader teams with flexible skills, changing education and training to deliver more staff in roles and services where they are needed most, and ensuring staff have the right skills to take advantage of new technology that frees up clinicians’ time to care, increases flexibility in deployment, and provides the care patients need more effectively and efficiently.

Nurses: Training

Damien Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of the restoration of the nurse’s bursary.

Will Quince: The Student Loans Company provides the primary funding support package for students in further education. Student loan repayments are unlike commercial loans, with built-in protections, including repayments linked to income and not based on interest rates or the amount borrowed, and with outstanding loan amounts written off after 30 years. Student loans are subsidised by the taxpayer, this is a conscious investment in the skills and people of this country.In addition to this, eligible nursing students have access to supplementary funding support via the NHS Learning Support Fund, which offers a non-repayable grant of £5,000 per academic year plus additional grants and supports depending on their circumstances.

Nurses: Training

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, published on 3 July 2023, for what reason he plans to reduce the number of trainee children's nurses.

Will Quince: NHS England’s initial assessment is that there is currently a sufficient number of training places to meet demand for children’s nursing, but this will be kept under review. The modelling within this Plan will be independently verified and further information will be provided in due course.The model will be kept up to date, aligning service, finance and workforce planning much more closely together in future years. As programme teams collate more data, the impact of integrated care systems feeds through and as our actions start to be delivered, we can more precisely predict workforce demand.

NHS: Training

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of widening access to NHS careers by providing (a) support for mature students and (b) childcare and grants to assist with staff training.

Will Quince: Widening access to NHS careers remains a key priority for Government. The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, published on 30 June 2023 sets out an ongoing ambition to work to widen participation in education and training, so the NHS workforce is representative of the communities we serve, and students gain the skills, knowledge and experience they need to deliver high quality care to a hugely diverse population.The NHS Learning Support Fund provides eligible nursing, midwifery and allied health professions students with a non-repayable training grant of a minimum of £5,000 per academic year. Further funding is available depending on personal circumstances, including a non-repayable grant of £2,000 per academic year for students with one or more child dependents.The NHS Bursary provides payment for tuition fees for students on medical and dental courses from year five of an undergraduate course, and from year two of a graduate-entry course. The NHS Bursary also provide students, where eligible, with a dependants’ allowance, parent learning allowance and childcare allowance.

NHS: Training

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will have discussions with the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on the provision of key worker housing for staff training relating to the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan.

Will Quince: We recognise the importance of ensuring high-quality, affordable accommodation is available to National Health Service staff. We are working closely with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to explore how we can best support NHS trusts to deliver key worker accommodation where it is needed. Local organisations are ultimately responsible for determining the appropriate use of NHS estate, including for key worker accommodation. NHS staff also have access to the national First Homes scheme, established in 2021, which enables key workers to purchase homes at a discount to the market value on new housing sites, paid for by developer contributions.

Motor Neurone Disease

Damien Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will provide a breakdown of how the £50 million funding ring-fenced for research into Motor-Neurone Disease is to be spent.

Will Quince: Funding for motor neurone disease research has always been available via open competition. In 2021/22, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) spent £3.8 million on MND research, and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), through the Medical Research Council (MRC), spent around £10.8 million.The Government has committed to make at least £50 million available for MND research over the next five years, ending in March 2027. In June 2023, we set out how £36.5 million of the £50 million pledged to MND research is now allocated to cutting-edge researchers.The £36.5 million package includes, £7m of new research grants allocated by the MRC, including three fellowships and four research grants. £8 million for early phase clinical research for MND, speeding up innovative new treatments for patients through the NIHR Biomedical Research Centres. This is made up of a £4.7 million investment in a collaboration of UK researchers who will take forward an early phase platform trial to screen for drugs which have the potential to be successful in clinical trials. It also includes a further £3.25 million investment to train a new group of MND researchers to support future research and £12.5 million to support the best discovery science at the UK Dementia Research Institute.In June 2022, a £4.25 million MND collaborative partnership was launched to bring the MND research community together, for leading researchers to collaborate on accelerating delivery of new treatments, with £1 million contribution from Government. NIHR is contributing a further £2 million to the MND Collaborative Partnership led by LifeArc to focus on gathering and analysing existing data on the condition to explore the underlying causes of MND and help develop breakthrough new treatments.£6 million fund, £3 million from MRC and £3 million from NIHR, for a translational accelerator investment which will connect the UK Dementia Research Institute, the MND collaborative partnership, and the UK Dementias Platform.To support this work, the Government published a joint NIHR MRC Highlight Notice inviting outstanding researchers across the academic and life science sector to submit applications to an open call. For the remainder of the £50 million, we are encouraging all researchers to apply for this funding via open call.

Liver Diseases: Screening

Peter Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of Community Diagnostic Centres have diagnostic capacity to provide (a) Intelligent Liver Function Tests, (b) FibroScans and (c) FIB-4 tests to assess fibrosis of the liver.

Peter Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to implement the guidance by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence on the use of FibroScan for assessing liver fibrosis and cirrhosis outside secondary and specialist care, published on 7 June 2023.

Will Quince: Intelligent Liver Function Tests are carried out in laboratories and therefore cannot be done at a Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC). These tests determine whether a fibroscan is required. There are 10 CDCs currently providing ultrasound liver elastography (fibroscan). NHS England has plans to understand the diagnostic pathways for liver disease and how CDCs can further support this. The pathway for assessing liver disease should start with blood tests taken in primary care, with FIB-4 liver tests available at NHS trusts. NHS England has not made an assessment of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance on the use of FibroScan for assessing liver fibrosis and cirrhosis outside secondary and specialist care.

Palliative Care: Drugs

Chris Clarkson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to provide all (a) hospice patients and (b) next of kin with written guidance on the possible (i) effects and (ii) outcomes of medications used in end-of-life care.

Helen Whately: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published guidelines on end of life care for adults and care of dying adults in the last days of life. This guidance covers topics such as communication, shared decision-making, and pharmacological interventions.Ensuring patients, and those important to them, are fully informed regarding their care, including medications, is the responsibility of individual staff and provider organisations. NICE guidance and quality standards, the Ambitions Framework, NHS England’s Palliative and End of Life Care Statutory Guidance for Integrated Care Boards and Care Quality Commission inspection key lines of enquiry all support this by emphasising the needs for individualised care and communication. NHS England also published an Accessible Information Standard to promote the provision of information in a way that meets the needs of each individual.

Medical Treatments: Young People

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce waiting times for community child health services.

Helen Whately: We regularly monitor community health services waiting lists and are committed to reducing waiting lists in community child health services. The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan sets commitments to grow the community workforce, with increases in training places for district nurses, health visitors, school nurses and allied health professionals, and a renewed focus on retaining our existing staff.

Palliative Care

John Penrose: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how he will (a) monitor, (b) assess and (c) report on the delivery by Integrated Care Boards of the duty to meet population need for palliative and end of life care under the Health and Care Act 2022.

Helen Whately: Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for arranging healthcare services which meet the reasonable needs of the people for whom they are responsible. NHS England formally oversees ICBs and has a legal duty to annually assess and publish the performance of each ICB. In addition, the Care Quality Commission system assessments provide an independent assurance to the public and Parliament.NHS England has also begun analysis of the recently submitted ICB Joint Forward Plans against the legal statutory duty to commission services that meet the palliative and end of life care needs of local populations through a whole-system approach. This analysis will be used internally to help focus support ICBs in the implementation of their statutory duty under the Health and Care Act 2022. Furthermore, it will enable identification of where more targeted support is required in addition to the system-wide support offered nationally.

Motor Neurone Disease

Damien Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merit of funding research into low-dose interleukin 2 treatments for Motor Neurone Disease.

Will Quince: The Department funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including research into treatments such as low-dose interleukin 2. The NIHR does not ring-fence funds for expenditure on particular topics. In all disease areas, the amount of NIHR funding depends on the volume and quality of scientific activity.The Government is determined to accelerate research to find a cure and develop innovative treatments which will slow or stop motor neurone disease (MND) and improve people’s lives. The Government has committed to make at least £50 million available for MND research over the next five years, ending in March 2027. In 2021/22, NIHR spent £3.8 million on MND research, and UK Research and Innovation, through the Medical Research Council, spent around £10.8 million.

Motor Neurone Disease

Damien Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much of the £50million ring-fenced funding for Motor-Neurone Disease research (a) has been and (b) is planned to be spent on researching interleukin 2 therapies for that disease.

Will Quince: The Government has committed to make at least £50 million available for motor neurone disease (MND) research over the next five years, ending in March 2027. In June 2023, the Government set out how £36.5 million of the £50 million pledged to MND research is now allocated to cutting-edge researchers. Research activities funded by the Department via the National Institute for Health and Care Research do not include research on interleukin 2 therapies for MND.For the remainder of the £50 million, the Government is encouraging all researchers to apply for this funding via open call. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including research into therapies such as interleukin 2. NIHR does not ring-fence funds for expenditure on particular topics. In all disease areas, the amount of NIHR funding depends on the volume and quality of scientific activity.

Fractures

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing NHS targets for prevention of fragility fractures.

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to improve early identification of osteoporosis.

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of trends in the identification rate for patients with osteoporotic fractures.

Helen Whately: The Major Conditions Strategy is an opportunity to tackle musculoskeletal conditions, including osteoporosis, to improve outcomes for patients. The strategy will set out a clear vision for musculoskeletal conditions, covering treatment and prevention.To help support trends in the identification rate for patients with osteoporotic fracture and to improve early identification of osteoporosis, the Quality Improvement Partnership commissions and manages the Falls and Fragility Fracture Audit on behalf of NHS England. This includes the Hip Fracture Database, as well as an audit focusing on Fracture Liaison Services. This audit has developed the Fracture Liaison Service Database to benchmark services and drive quality improvement.

Cystic Fibrosis: Health Services

Janet Daby: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to support people with cystic fibrosis.

Helen Whately: To support the health of people with cystic fibrosis, NHS England is undertaking a review of cystic fibrosis care including a review of service provision, management, and financing over the past two years. The review has already distributed recommendations for optimal monitoring of patients at home.To support standards of cystic fibrosis care, NHS England is also undertaking a baseline assessment of cystic fibrosis centres to understand current standards, care provision, and any gaps. This data will inform the 2023/24 work programme. To support cystic fibrosis patients to live longer and healthier lives, people with cystic fibrosis in England have also benefited from one of the fastest rollouts of the drug Kaftrio in the world.

Dementia: Diagnosis

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Primary Care Dementia Data, May 2023, Official Statistics; for what reasons new dementia diagnoses are not included in those statistics alongside total dementia diagnoses; if he will publish data showing new dementia diagnoses for each of the past five years; and if he will make it his policy to include data on new dementia diagnoses in future Official Statistics releases on dementia.

Helen Whately: Data regarding patients who are newly diagnosed with dementia was introduced to the Core GP Contract GP Extraction Service (GPES) data collection for the 2023/24 financial year. This collection is the data source for the Primary Care Dementia Data Official Statistics publication. Data is being collected for each month, starting from April 2023. NHS England are currently assessing the data quality of this information to ensure it meets basic data quality standards and is caveated where appropriate. Once data quality has been assured to be appropriate for publication, NHS England will release this data in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.

Patients: Medical Treatments

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to include in clinical guidance and education the need to provide people with the knowledge and skills to enable them to self-manage their medical conditions.

Helen Whately: NHS England engaged a wide range of stakeholders including people with lived experience, general practitioner, local authority commissioners, integrated care boards, the Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise sector and national partner organisations to set out the standard model for what makes good supported self-management and what needs to be in place locally.A summary guide aimed at people and organisations leading local implementation of supported self-management is available at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/supported-self-management-summary-guide.pdf

Patients: Medical Treatments

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to help support integrated care systems to monitor the use of supported self care.

Helen Whately: Integrated care systems (ICS) plan and deliver care for their local populations, including the approach to personalised care and supported self care which is part of the NHS Long Term Plan’s commitment to personalisation.The Department and NHS England provide support to ICS including through guidance, best practice forums and NHS England’s online collaboration platform and monitors delivery of priorities through mechanisms including the NHS Oversight Framework, including aspects of personalised care

Community Health Services: Children

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce backlogs in community child health services.

Helen Whately: We regularly monitor community health services waiting lists and are committed to reducing waiting lists in community child health services. The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan sets commitments to grow the community workforce, with increases in training places for district nurses, health visitors, school nurses and allied health professionals, and a renewed focus on retaining our existing staff.

Mental Health Services: Children and Young People

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to (a) increase the speed of and (b) support children awaiting referral to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services.

Maria Caulfield: We are increasing investment into mental health services by at least £2.3 billion a year by March 2024 and have set out our aim in the NHS Long Term Plan for an additional 345,000 children and young people to be able to get the mental health support they need by March 2024. We also provided an additional £79 million in 2021/22 to help speed up the expansion of children’s mental health services. This allowed around 22,500 more children and young people to access community health services, 2,000 more to access eating disorder services and a faster increase in the coverage of mental health support teams in schools and colleges.NHS England has consulted on the potential to introduce five new waiting time standards as part of its clinically-led review of NHS access standards, including that children, young people and their families, presenting to community-based mental health services should start to receive care within four weeks from referral. As a first step, NHS England has shared and promoted guidance with its local system partners to consistently report waiting times to support the development of a baseline position. We are working with NHS England on on the next steps.We are also making good progress in rolling out mental health support teams to schools and colleges across England. As of spring 2022 there were 287 in place in over 4,700 schools and colleges across the country, offering support to children experiencing anxiety, depression, and other common mental health issues, some of whom may be awaiting referral to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services. We expect this is now at around 400 teams covering 35% of pupils. Over 500 are planned to be up and running by 2024.

National Food Crime Unit: Finance

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding was provided to the Food Standards Agency’s National Food Crime Unit in each of the last five years.

Neil O'Brien: The Food Standards Agency (FSA) National Food Crime Unit (NFCU) works to prevent, detect and investigate fraud within our food system. The NFCU was initially established as an intelligence function in 2015 following recommendations made to Government in the Elliott Review, conducted in the aftermath of the horse meat incident in 2013. An independent review into the NFCU in 2018 recommended that the NFCU expand to provide an investigative capability.The following table shows the funding provided to the NFCU from 2018 to 2023.YearFunding2018/19£3.2 million2019/20£5.6 million2020/21£4.6 million2021/22£4.7 million2022/23£5.0 million

Mental Health: Children

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to help support children whose mental health is affected by their financial circumstances.

Maria Caulfield: We are increasing investment into mental health services by at least £2.3 billion a year by March 2024 and have set out our aim in the NHS Long Term Plan for an additional 345,000 children and young people, including those from low income families, to be able to get the mental health support they need.We are making good progress in rolling out mental health support teams to schools and colleges across England. As of spring 2022 there were 287 in place in over 4,700 schools and colleges across the country, offering support to children experiencing anxiety, depression, and other common mental health issues. We expect this is now at around 399 teams covering 35% of pupils. Over 500 are planned to be up and running by 2024.On top of this we provided an extra £500 million in 2021/22 to accelerate our NHS mental health expansion plans and target groups whose mental health has been most affected by the pandemic. This included £79 million to expand support in children and young people’s mental health services; and a £15 million Prevention and Promotion for Better Mental Health Fund to help level up mental health and wellbeing across the country by investing in activity to promote positive mental health in the 40 most deprived local authority areas in England.More widely, we are working across government and with external partners to identify who is most vulnerable to the impacts of increased cost of living, and what action can be taken to support them. The Government announced a £37 billion package of cost of living support to help households and businesses, including a £15 billion targeted package of direct support for the most vulnerable households.

Primary Health Care

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential impact of using supported self-care in primary care settings on (a) costs of care, (b) time and (c) patient outcomes.

Neil O'Brien: The Delivery Plan for Recovering Access to Primary Care, published on 9 May 2023, describes an ambition to make it easier for patients, where it is clinically safe, to monitor certain long-term conditions at home and easier for practices to review patients that are self-monitoring. Home monitoring can substantially improve health outcomes and reduce the need for regular and urgent appointments. A good example is blood pressure control through home monitoring, reducing heart attacks and strokes. To support this we are providing funding for digital tools so patients can send readings to their practice, where staff can review and add them to their clinical record.Already more than 30,000 people self-refer each month, and in the 2023/24 operational planning guidance NHS England asks systems to expand this for certain carefully considered community-based services from September 2023. These include selected community musculoskeletal services, audiology for older people including hearing aid provision, weight management services, community podiatry, and wheelchair and community equipment services.

Physiotherapy

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the proposed number of physiotherapists provided for by the NHS Workforce Plan in (a) 2026-27, (b) 2031-32 and (c) 2036-37.

Will Quince: The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan models the workforce supply and demand for staff in different professions over a 15-year timeframe, and the resulting shortfall. The model suggests a shortfall between 0% and 5% for physiotherapists in 2036/37. Shortfall is not estimated for any other periods.The Plan modelling aims to provide strategic insights to inform policy choices relating to education, training, recruitment and retention, rather than operational insights, targets or precise values. The National Audit Office (NAO) will carry out an independent assessment of the modelling behind the Plan. The NAO anticipates publishing their independent assessment in the first half of 2024.

Health Visitors

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to ensure that (a) the number of health visitors and (b) caseloads for health visitors return to 2015 levels.

Will Quince: It is the responsibility of local authority commissioners, working with their service provider, to determine health visitor numbers based upon local needs. The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan sets out the steps the NHS and its partners need to take to deliver a workforce that meets the changing needs of the population over the next 15 years. As part of this ambition, we aim to expand health visiting training places by 74% to over 1,300 by 2031/32. To support working towards this expansion, training places for health visitors will grow by 17% by 2028/29.

NHS: Databases

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many tenders for the NHS Federated Data Platform and Associated Services contract were received by his Department.

Will Quince: NHS England is procuring the Federated Data Platform via an open competition, in line with Public Contracts Regulations (PCR) 2015. The programme is currently part way through an ongoing procurement process that has yet to conclude and is therefore not in a position to disclose any information relating to the procurement exercise including the number of responses received. The programme is aiming to award the contract to the successful supplier in the autumn.

Department for Business and Trade

Help to Grow Schemes: Voucher Schemes

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many and what proportion of businesses that were granted vouchers through the Help to Grow: Digital scheme did not redeem those vouchers; and what the total value of those unredeemed vouchers was.

Kevin Hollinrake: The number of unredeemed vouchers for Help to Grow: Digital as of 31/03/23 (Date of closure) is 575 which is c41.25% of vouchers approved. As the cost of the voucher would be dependent on the software purchased, it is not possible to provide a definitive total value of unredeemed vouchers. Unredeemed vouchers do not incur a cost to government.

Exports

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps she is taking to help increase exports.

Nigel Huddleston: My Department’s Export Strategy targets barriers to trade and supports businesses through a 12-point plan. The Strategy is implemented through the Export Support Service - answering exporters questions, Export Academy – offering free learning and development for potential exporters, and UK Export Finance - the UK’s export credit agency who have supported 55,000 UK jobs. This support has been imperative to boosting UK exports. Furthermore, we are also identifying opportunities to simplify existing regulation and equip businesses to capitalise on the new free trade agreements, state level agreements and wider removal of market access barriers.

Foreign Investment in UK: Northern Ireland

Stephen Farry: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has had recent discussions with the (a) US Special Envoy for Northern Ireland, (b) other representatives of the US government, (c) representatives of the Irish government and (d) the European Commission on the Northern Ireland Investment Summit on 12 and 13 September 2023.

Nigel Huddleston: Department for Business and Trade and Northern Ireland Office officials are engaging with a wide local stakeholders and international counterparts to discuss their participation and support for the Northern Ireland Investment Summit.

UK Internal Trade: Northern Ireland

Stephen Farry: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what plans she has to promote dual market access under the Windsor Framework at the Northern Ireland Investment Summit on 12 and 13 September 2023.

Nigel Huddleston: Planning is ongoing how Northern Ireland’s innovation, sectoral expertise and unique strengths, including dual market access, will be showcased and promoted at the Northern Ireland Investment Summit in September.

Unmanned Air Vehicles: Research

Stephen Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has had recent discussions with universities that are undertaking research on drone technology in collaboration with Iranian scientists.

Nigel Huddleston: We take all allegations of breaches of sanctions or export controls seriously, and my officials are leading a review of the allegations made in recent press articles that UK universities are collaborating with Iran to develop drones and other technologies which may be linked to Iran’s military programmes. They are working at pace with others in the Ministry of Defence, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, and the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) to establish the facts and assess if any export controls (Military, Dual-Use, UK National) or relevant sanctions regulations may have been contravened. In parallel, the Research Collaboration Advice Team (RCAT) - which advises research institutions on national security risks linked to international collaboration - is establishing what due diligence was carried out by the institutions identified to date. The outcome of this review will determine what further action may be needed. If there has been a potential breach of the sanctions or export controls, HMRC and/or Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) will consider appropriate enforcement action.

Iran: Unmanned Air Vehicles

Stephen Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of compliance with (a) sanctions and (b) restrictions on exports of the research being undertaken at universities with Iranian scientists on drone technology.

Nigel Huddleston: The Government takes all credible allegations of breaches of sanctions and export controls seriously, and the enforcement agencies will take further action if appropriate. The UK has a number of sanctions in place against Iran including against Iranian UAV manufacturers and related military individuals and executives. Officials in my department have been leading a review of the allegations made in the recent press articles. They are working at pace with others in the Ministry of Defence, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, and the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) to establish the facts and assess if any export controls (Military, Dual-Use, UK National) or relevant sanctions regulations may have been contravened. The outcome of this review will determine what further action may be needed. If there has been a potential breach of the sanctions or export controls, HMRC and/or OFSI will consider appropriate enforcement action.

Iran: Unmanned Air Vehicles

Stephen Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has had recent discussions with Cabinet colleagues on the implications for the Government's policies of the research being undertaken at universities with Iranian scientists on drone technology.

Nigel Huddleston: The Government take all allegations of breaches of export controls or sanctions seriously, and officials in my department have been leading a review of the allegations made in the recent press articles. They are working at pace with others in the Ministry of Defence, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, and the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) to establish the facts and assess if any export controls (Military, Dual-Use, UK National) or relevant sanctions regulations may have been contravened. The outcome of this review will determine what further action may be needed. If there has been a potential breach of the sanctions or export controls, HMRC and/or OFSI will consider appropriate enforcement action.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Electoral Systems

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the report by the Association of Electoral Administrators entitled AEA 2023 post polls review - Under pressure: increased demand on the UK electoral system, published in June 2023; and if he will make a statement.

Dehenna Davison: I refer the Hon Mem to the answers given to Question UIN 162192 on 14 March 2023 and Question UIN 183999 on 11 May 2023.

Social Rented Housing

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what information his Department holds on the average length of time housing association properties are vacant between tenants.

Dehenna Davison: During 2021/22 the median number of days a housing association (Private Registered Provider) property was vacant before being let was 20 days. The National Statistics based on this data collection are published on gov.uk here and contain similar figures for different types of social lettings.

Religious Hatred

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 9 June to Question 187005 on Islamophobia, if he will list the stakeholders being consulted on religious hatred in Britain.

Dehenna Davison: Details of ministerial meetings are published on Gov.uk.

Sleeping Rough

Dr Kieran Mullan: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to end rough sleeping.

Felicity Buchan: Last year we published our cross-government strategy 'Ending Rough Sleeping for Good', setting out how we are investing £2 billion over three years to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping.This includes up to £500 million in funding through the Rough Sleeping Initiative 2022-25 to local authorities across England which includes a range of support, including outreach, accommodation, mental health and substance misuse support, immigration advice and help to find employment or training.Rough sleeping levels are 35% lower in 2022 compared to the peak in 2017 and 28% lower than they were in 2019 before the pandemic. We remain steadfastly committed to our goal to end rough sleeping and we will continue to work with local authorities and partners, the voluntary and community sector and private sector to end it for good.

Leasehold: Reform

Dr Kieran Mullan: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what plans his Department has for leasehold reform.

Rachel Maclean: I refer the Hon Member to my answer to Question UIN 191122 on 4 July 2023.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Countryside

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department are taking to ensure that all people live within 15 minutes’ walk of a green or blue space; and what steps she plans to take to measure progress towards that target.

Trudy Harrison: We know that there are significant health and wellbeing benefits to spending time in nature. That is why we announced in our Environmental Improvement Plan in January our intention to work across government to ensure that everyone lives within a 15 minute walk of a blue or green space. We also committed to work in parallel to reduce barriers to access. Achieving delivery of these cross-government commitments, to bring nature closer to people and reduce barriers to accessing it, is a long-term goal. We are currently focused on developing the right modelling tools and indicators to allow us to accurately measure the baseline, identify where to target efforts and to track future progress, engaging closely with stakeholders as we do so. At the same time, we continue to deliver existing work across Government in this area, such as the Access for All programme, Farming in Protected Landscapes, the Green Infrastructure Framework, the Levelling Up Parks Fund and the Walking and Cycling Infrastructure Strategy.

Pets: Theft

Dr Luke Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions officials in her Department has had with (a) other Government Departments and (ii) third-party stakeholders on policy formation on tackling pet theft.

Trudy Harrison: In response to concerns about the apparent increase in pet theft since the start of the pandemic the Government set up the Pet Theft Taskforce in May 2021. The Taskforce was a cross-government initiative including Defra, the Ministry of Justice and the Home Office. The Taskforce published their findings in September 2021 with input from animal welfare groups and experts in relevant fields. We are in the process of taking forward the Task Force’s recommendations together with relevant Departments.

Cats and Dogs: Animal Breeding

Sarah Owen: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle the illegal breeding of (a) cats and (b) dogs.

Trudy Harrison: This Government takes the issue of low-welfare and illegal breeding of puppies and kittens very seriously. Significant steps have already been taken to improve and update the laws in England to crack down on unscrupulous breeders who breed purely for financial greed at the expense of animal welfare. Under The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018, commercial dog breeders and pet sellers, who sell puppies or kittens they have bred themselves, need to have a valid licence from their local authority. Licensees must meet strict statutory minimum welfare standards which are enforced by local authorities who have powers to issue, refuse, vary or revoke licences. It is an offence to breach a license condition or carry on a licensable activity without a license and Local authorities are afforded powers to prosecute such cases. We are in the process of reviewing these regulations and will report in the Autumn. Defra’s Petfished national communications campaign raises awareness of issues associated with low-welfare and illegal supply of pets. The campaign provides a list of red flags for buyers to look out for when searching for a pet online. More information can be found here: https://getyourpetsafely.campaign.gov.uk/

Pets: Theft

Eddie Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to reduce pet theft.

Trudy Harrison: While stealing a pet is already a criminal offence under the Theft Act 1968, we understand the devastating impact that the theft of a pet can have. That is why we intend to legislate to make pet abduction a specific offence, building on the recent work of the Pet Theft Taskforce to clamp down on this heartless crime.

UK Internal Trade: Labelling

Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to take steps to support the suppliers of fresh and frozen products seeking to send their products to Northern Ireland with labelling requirements.

Mark Spencer: On 9 June UK Government published guidance to support industry to implement the new labelling requirements. We also engage stakeholders regularly to provide further bespoke support. The UK Government will also provide financial support to help businesses with the new labelling requirements for October 2023. Further guidance on this will be provided later in the year.

Water Companies: Finance

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to help improve the financial stability of the water industry.

Rebecca Pow: The sector as a whole is financially resilient. Water companies are responsible for ensuring that they remain financially resilient, however, over recent years, as investment requirements have risen, Ofwat has taken further steps to strengthen the financial resilience of companies. This includes increasing its financial monitoring, improving levels of reporting transparency and strengthening the ring-fence licence conditions, which ensure the regulated company maintains sufficient financial and management resources which enable it to carry out its functions in a sustainable manner. Government and Ofwat take the financial resilience of the water sector very seriously. Government gave new powers to Ofwat through the Environment Act and in March 2023, Ofwat set out new measures to increase financial resilience in the sector. This includes additional powers to stop water companies making dividend payments earlier if the company's financial resilience is at risk. Ofwat has also strengthened the existing dividend licence condition so that there is an explicit requirement for companies to measure performance by reference to delivery for customers and the environment. Companies will need to demonstrate this in their annual reporting on dividends and dividend decisions. In addition, Ofwat has also tightened up the measures around water company executives’ bonuses so that Ofwat will make shareholders pay for bonuses, not the customer, where there is poor performance.

Deposit Return Schemes: Glass

Danny Kruger: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 27 June 2023 to Question 190527 on Deposit Return Schemes: Glass, how many representations her Department received from businesses against the inclusion of glass in the deposit return scheme for England and Northern Ireland; and from whom.

Rebecca Pow: Businesses have been clear that adding glass to a deposit return scheme will add fundamental complexity for our pubs and restaurants, increase burdens on small businesses, whilst creating greater inconvenience for consumers. Among other considerations, the UK Government took into account strong representations made by relevant businesses, including distillers and the hospitality sector. Concerns raised included:Handling costs and equipment complexity. Reverse Vending Machines (RVMs) will need to be emptied more frequently and will carry additional safety risks associated with handling broken glass in retail environments.For retailers offering a manual take-back service, glass bottles will require more space to be stored safely which could disproportionately impact on small retailers.In addition, points were raised regarding, the weight of glass and the potential for breakages also posing increased inconvenience for consumers. More broadly, the additional cost and complexity imposed on the scheme if glass were to be included.

Department for Transport

Blue Badge Scheme: France

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has discussed with the French Government negotiating acceptance of the UK Blue Badge in French car parks.

Mr Richard Holden: The UK Blue Badge scheme provides a range of concessions in respect of on-street parking. These do not apply to off-street car parks. Reciprocal arrangements discussed with other countries, including France, recognise that acceptance of the UK Blue Badge abroad will be based on that country’s disabled parking policy, which may not include off-street parking concessions.

Bus Services: Stockport

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what data his Department holds on the number of journeys made on local bus services in (a) Stockport constituency and (b) Stockport Borough.

Mr Richard Holden: The Department publishes annual National Statistics on the number of passenger journeys on local buses. The statistics do not present figures for Stockport constituency or Stockport Borough as the data is not collected at this level of granularity, instead figures for Greater Manchester are available. The latest annual bus statistics for 2021/22 are available on GOV.UK and passenger journeys for Greater Manchester are available in table BUS01e: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/annual-bus-statistics-year-ending-march-2022

Bus Services: Concessions

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of providing free bus travel to people aged under 25.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make it his policy to conduct a pilot programme of free bus travel for under 25 year olds.

Mr Richard Holden: Previous initial analysis estimated that providing free travel on buses for 16-18 –year-olds across England (outside London) would cost around £500m per year. The population of 16–18-year-olds in England outside London is 1.6 million per the 2021 Census, whereas the respective population of 16–25-year-olds is 5.6 million. The Government currently has no plans to progress this suggestion.We have taken broader action to make fares more affordable. We are investing in the bus sector to deliver the ambitions of the National Bus Strategy to make bus services more reliable and cheaper. We have allocated over £1 billion of funding for English Local Transport Authorities outside London to support the delivery of Bus Service Improvement Plans (BSIP), of which funding can be used to introduce measures which reduce bus fares for under 25s. For example, we recently confirmed £45.6 million funding for the North East and North of Tyne Combined Authorities to deliver their BSIP, in addition to the initial investment of £117.8 million. Thanks to this funding, Transport North East has launched a £1 fare for the under 22s and the North East Joint Transport Committee agreed to provide free travel passes for 18 to 25 year old care-experienced people.

Ministry of Justice

Drugs: Disclosure of Information

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information the Government holds on the number of pharmaceutical companies that have been prosecuted for withholding information on their products in the last twenty years.

Edward Argar: The Ministry of Justice cannot provide information on the number of pharmaceutical companies that have been prosecuted for withholding information on their products, as the type of company prosecuted is not held centrally in the Courts Proceeding Database. The Ministry of Justice publishes information on prosecutions, convictions and sentence outcomes in the Outcomes by Offence data tool: December 2022 including offences as set out in the Offence Group Classification. By navigating to the ‘Person/other’ filter within the pivot tools, it can be filtered for ’02: Companies, public bodies, etc.’, however it is not able to establish the type of company the data represents.

Prisons

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whatrecent assessmenthehas madeoftheadequacyoftheprisons estate.

Damian Hinds: We received almost £4 billion of funding at SR21 to deliver 20,000 additional, modern prison places, ensuring the right conditions are in place to rehabilitate prisoners, helping to cut crime and protect the public. We continue to invest in prison maintenance so that existing places remain in use and are safe.

Prisoners: Parents

Caroline Nokes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many male prisoners were serving a sentence of 12 months or more had children as on 30 June 23, and if his Department holds data on the ages of those children.

Damian Hinds: This data is not currently available. The Government is seeking to improve our data and evidence in this area through the Better Outcomes through Linked Data (BOLD) Programme. BOLD is a cross-government Shared Outcomes Fund project which will link data to enable better evidenced and more joined up cross government services. Through BOLD, we will explore data sharing to improve our understanding of the number of parents in prison and the number of children impacted by parental imprisonment. BOLD’s findings will include breakdowns by gender and sentence length, enabling us to identify how many male prisoners serving a sentence of 12 month or more have children. Findings will be published when the analysis is complete. Changes have been made to the Basic Custody Screening Tool to enable us to collect data on entry to prison about how many primary carers are in custody, how many children under the age of 18 are affected by their imprisonment and the ages of those children. The learning from the data collected will be incorporated into findings from the BOLD programme.

Prisoners: Parents

Caroline Nokes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many female prisoners currently serving a sentence of 12 months or more have children; and if his Department records data on the ages of those children.

Damian Hinds: This data is not currently available. The Government is seeking to improve our data and evidence in this area through the Better Outcomes through Linked Data (BOLD) Programme. BOLD is a cross-government Shared Outcomes Fund project which will link data to enable better evidenced and more joined up cross government services. Through BOLD, we will explore data sharing to improve our understanding of the number of parents in prison and the number of children impacted by parental imprisonment. BOLD’s findings will include breakdowns by gender and sentence length, enabling us to identify how many female prisoners serving a sentence of 12 months or more have children. Findings will be published when the analysis is complete. Changes have also been made to the Basic Custody Screening Tool to enable us to collect data on entry to prison about how many primary carers are in custody, how many children under the age of 18 are affected by their imprisonment and the ages of those children. The learning from the data collected will be incorporated into findings from the BOLD programme.

Department for Science, Innovation and Technology

Innovation and Research: Higher Education

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether the Office for National Statistics includes Higher Education Innovation Funding in its estimate of total UK Research and Development spending.

George Freeman: The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is an independent producer of official statistics. Its annual publication “Research and development expenditure by the UK government” has figures for UK Government net expenditure on research and development (R&D) by department and for UK Government net expenditure on knowledge transfer by department, both separately and combined; it has also published experimental statistics on “UK public-funded gross regional capital and non-capital expenditure on research and development”. I understand that UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) provides ONS with expenditure data on Higher Education Innovation Funding to be included in these statistics.

Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

Carbon Emissions: Yorkshire and the Humber

Emma Hardy: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment has he made of the potential impact of (a) carbon capture and storage and (b) hydrogen power on decarbonisation of the Humber industrial region.

Graham Stuart: Analysis suggests there are more than 10MtCO2 per year in the Humber industrial area which carbon capture and storage and hydrogen projects could play a key role in decarbonising.

Environment Protection: Taxation

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of green levies on rural communities.

Amanda Solloway: Full Impact Assessments have routinely been published throughout billpayer-funded environmental and social schemes, such as the Renewables Obligation, Feed-In Tariff, and Energy Company Obligation, including rural communities if particular impacts are anticipated. These levies are factored into the price cap set by Ofgem, and do not add to bills over and above that. In addition, rural communities will benefit from the schemes funded by these levies, which improve our energy security by supporting domestically produced, renewable electricity and support energy efficiency measures which bring down the cost of energy and deliver wider health benefits to households throughout the country.

Carbon Capture and Storage: Yorkshire and the Humber

Emma Hardy: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent estimate he has made of when the carbon dioxide pipeline from the Endurance carbon dioxide store will reach the Humber industrial region.

Graham Stuart: To contribute to the ambition of capturing and storing 20-30Mt CO2 per year, the Government will develop the Track-1 clusters to increase the benefits they can deliver. The Government announced in Powering Up Britain that it will launch a process later this year to enable further expansion of the Track-1 clusters, beyond the initial deployment, identifying and selecting projects for the HyNet and East Coast Clusters – including the Humber – and their associated stores, as they become viable, to be operational by 2030.

Renewable Energy: Community Development

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department plans to take to increase the growth in community energy generation.

Graham Stuart: The Government’s approach to community energy is set out in the Net Zero Strategy. This includes running the Community Energy Contact Group which provides a dedicated forum to discuss the role that community energy can play in the delivery of net zero with the sector. The approach also includes support for community energy projects from Ofgem, which welcomes applications from the sector to the Industry Voluntary Redress Scheme. The Government is supporting local authorities and community energy groups to work together to develop projects within UK Growth Funding schemes.

Women and Equalities

Disability: Housing Improvement

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, pursuant to the Answer of 23 June to Question 189783 on Cabinet: Disability, what discussions she has had with Cabinet Office colleagues on the decision to not implement work to require landlords to make reasonable adjustments to the common parts of leasehold and commonhold homes.

Stuart Andrew: There has been no decision not to implement these Equality Act 2010 provisions. We continue to work towards implementation.